Kemo Cham, AfricaNews reporter in Dakar, Senegal
Senegalese president, Abdoulie Wade, has come under intense pressure for what the opposition in Senegal is characterizing as corruption. He is being condemned for extending a huge sum of money to a departing IMF official. Local media reported that the Senegalese government had bribed the IMF official with the money, about $200,000.
But the government then denied giving anything to the official.
The incident occurred last September 25, when the then country representative of the International Monetary Fund, Alex Segura, who was set to leave Senegal at the end of his three year tour of duty, was given what the Wade government now insist was just a parting gift, in keeping along with tradition.
However, according to an IMF statement released Monday, the Fund’s former country representative in Senegal departed horridly for the airport after a farewell dinner organised on his behalf by the Senegalese President at his residence, and that the official only lately discovered a gift he had been handed was a large sum of money in U.S. dollars and euros.
The IMF report indicated that they had to make effort to return the money to the Senegalese government without having to offend anyone.
This IMF, apparently, has prompted the president to come plain on the matter. In a statement issued on Tuesday, President Wade described the incident as an error on the part of a presidential aide.
Although the government had denied the whole thing when it first surfaced, the Senegal president in this statement admitted hosting a special dinner at his palace for a departing International Monetary Fund country representative. He stated however that a top aide had erroneously sent the departing official off with nearly $200,000 in cash as a goodbye gift.
‘‘A top aide to the president asked if he should give something to Segura as is custom,’’ the statement said. ‘‘The president said yes without specifying the sum, as there was a common practice.’’
‘‘It doesn’t make sense to talk about corruption of someone who is leaving permanently without the slightest chance of meeting each other again one day,” the president stressed.
President Abdoulaye Wade’s admission has prompted the opposition and civil society people in the country to call for investigation on the matter. He has been under growing pressure of late on allegations of corruptions.
His decision to change the country’s constitution recently to allow him to stay longer attracted serious condemnation across the political spectrum in the country.
There have also been seemingly unending debates about his expressed intention to run for another seven year term as president of the Republic. At 83, Wade will make history by becoming the oldest serving president as he will have been well into his 90s. Political pundits here are concerned about the implication of such for Senegal’s widely acclaimed political system.
Senegalese president, Abdoulie Wade, has come under intense pressure for what the opposition in Senegal is characterizing as corruption. He is being condemned for extending a huge sum of money to a departing IMF official. Local media reported that the Senegalese government had bribed the IMF official with the money, about $200,000.
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